'Wrinkle' hovers, but doesn't soar

This image released by Disney shows Oprah Winfrey in a scene from "A Wrinkle In Time." (Atsushi Nishijima/Disney via AP)

Photo: Photo Credit: Atsushi Nishijima

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Storm Reid is Meg Murry and Levi Miller is Calvin O'Keefe in Disney's A WRINKLE IN TIME.

There are tender emotional moments in "A Wrinkle in Time" — particularly between a father and daughter — that have such warmth that they make you think, OK, this is where director Ava DuVernay is really investing. This is the heart of the movie. Those moments are lovely.

But there's something about "A Wrinkle in Time" overall that doesn't take flight. It doesn't fall to the ground, either, just sort of hovers when it should soar. It's conscientious. It's watchable, and it's never less than competent. But it seems to strive so hard to be inspirational, rather than letting the inspiration come through the story, that it becomes preachy and self-conscious.

The casting of Oprah Winfrey as Mrs. Which, the most powerful of the three benevolent entities that come to earth, doesn't help. Oprah has reached a stage of fame and household familiarity that it's very hard to accept her as anyone other than herself, even though she's a good actress. The only way it can work is if she's playing someone so far removed from the real-life Oprah that we can (partly, never completely) suspend our disbelief.

But here she plays an almost all-powerful being, who is full of sage advice, moral platitudes and concerns about the state of the universe. The last thing "A Wrinkle in Time" needs is to start seeming like a celestial analogue of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," but that's close to what happens.

Aside from a previous TV adaptation, Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" has never been made into a film, despite being a children's sci-fi classic that has never gone out of print since its publication in 1962. It tells the story of a 13-year-old girl, who is something of a misfit in school. Meg (Storm Reid) has been that way ever since her father (Chris Pine) completely vanished four years earlier, while working on a means of physically traveling across the universe through mental power.

It's understandable that with "A Wrinkle in Time," DuVernay would respond to our current American moment and try to craft a message of hope. But she creates the kind of pep talk that only reminds you of your problems, and we end up feeling worse.